Guild Wars

Post by **Jonathan** » Mon May 02, 2005 10:28 pm

Any takers?

http://www.guildwars.com/

For myself, I'm not too keen, since it's currently Windows-only. However, their FAQ does not rule out the possibility of a Linux client. And it does sound like it's worth $50 if I could play with friends.

Googling reveals tons of community sites but no reviews.

Post by **Jonathan** » Mon May 02, 2005 10:38 pm

and hey, it's skill-based!

Post by **Jonathan** » Mon May 02, 2005 10:43 pm

and infinite respec for stats!

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Mon May 02, 2005 11:42 pm

Yeah I got it but true to form, haven't actually played it yet. I'll probably get around to playing it in a couple weeks or so.

I did play the beta a couple times; I imagine it should get pretty good reviews.

Post by **Jonathan** » Tue May 03, 2005 1:17 am

It's about time for a new online game for me, and this definitely sounds like the type of game I'd play. I would get this if one person on top of Alan does. I might still get it, but later, after it's reviewed, marked down from $50, and either ported to Linux or successfully run under Wine/Cedega.

I wonder if the level cap is for all time or just for Chapter 1.

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Tue May 03, 2005 1:57 am

I started playing a bit today, the final version is very quest oriented like WoW.

So far that's all I can tell, it plays about the same as the beta.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue May 03, 2005 1:40 pm

I will give you two weeks with this game alan, then send me the game so i can play! yes!

Post by **Jonathan** » Wed May 04, 2005 3:12 am

http://transgaming.org/gamesdb/games/vi ... me_id=3370

Someone out there has tried running the beta under Cedega. Hm.

Post by **Jonathan** » Wed May 04, 2005 6:40 pm

Hey Alan, how's the stability? Lag? Server pop? If I'm playing solo and someone I know logs in, is it easy to somehow get with them (either in my current mission or by starting a new mission)?

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Thu May 05, 2005 12:52 am

Very stable, very little lag, haven't experienced any warping and such. Basically everyone in North America is on one server, so joining up with friends is easy.

You can't join missions in progress though, since it creates a new instance when you enter a mission. So if a friend came along you'd have to quit mid-mission and start over. Otherwise travel is like one-click (no travel-time if you don't want any) so meeting up just involves making sure you're in the same instance of a starting point, which you can select.

It's a MMORPG without the hassles, pretty much. If you don't want to wait to get into PvP you can just create a PvP-only character that will come equipped with decent equipment and skills. Not the best, but it will let you get into the action if you so desire.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu May 05, 2005 12:48 pm

That's worse than your WoW review! May as well fedex the cds to me now!

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0105/wow.html - you need to be saved.

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Thu May 05, 2005 9:26 pm

Dave wrote:That's worse than your WoW review! May as well fedex the cds to me now!

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0105/wow.html - you need to be saved.

Young Billy explains that it is very simple to announce the message of God's love across the World of Warcraft game channels. "I have a hot-key macro that broadcasts, Jesus Loves You! Please Love Him Back or He Will Burn You in Hell! PM Me if you want to learn more! across four channels. I do it right when I log in. I usually get PM'd (Private Messaged) by a few characters who I then add to my buddy list. I follow them around the game, across snow-capped mountains, and blasted wastelands until they accept Christ or persecute me so much that I have to report them to the server administrators for making fun of my religion. I think I've been responsible for getting over thirty accounts suspended for bigotry directed at me because of my faith."

That sounds rather like baiting to me. He's the one who should be getting banned.

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Thu May 05, 2005 9:30 pm

I'll probably end up quitting by next week. If I last longer than that then maybe I can recommend that you people buy the game.

Basically it's as fun as WoW but without the monthly fee. The controls feel slightly more clunky than WoW's for some reason even though all the keys are basically the same. Might be due to the fact that WoW lets you run anywhere and in Guild Wars you can't run down really steep hills or jump over fences and such so you feel more boxed in.

I dunno though. I can't really get into games anymore. Games I really like (like Mount & Blade or KOTOR 2) I'll play obsessively for a couple days or maybe a couple weeks and then quit abruptly. But yet I still buy too many games.

Oh I got the new "Championship Manager". It's called Football Manager now, because SI Games (the devs) split with Eidos and joined Sega. Eidos (who got to keep the CM brand name but not any of the code or databases) released a really shitty new Championship Manager.

Football Manager is probably the only game I will still be playing a month from now. Well also GT4 I guess.

Post by **Jonathan** » Thu May 05, 2005 9:36 pm

It's all a joke. There's a notice that says you have to be over 18 to read landoverbaptist.org/.

Post by **Jonathan** » Fri May 06, 2005 7:34 pm

In the world of Guild Wars, the men are men, and the women are runway models. Oh, and it's awesome.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/guildwars/review.html

Gamespot liked it, but since when does Gamespot not like anything?

I found this a little more illuminating: http://penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2005-05-06

Something I cannot stress enough is that you can play it for a very long time, very long, without actually arriving at the real game. Because there is nothing to distinguish the "training period" from the "real deal," you will - as I did - form opinions about Guild Wars that don't have any bearing on the actual flow of play.
...
It's my opinion that the starting areas aren't anywhere near as fun as where you end up - they aren't challenging, the "lewt" is below par, and I wasn't terribly engaged by the setting. I'd imagine there are people who, imagining sixty or seventy hours of that stretching out before them, might decide that there were (perhaps) more judicious time investments.

Post by **Jonathan** » Tue May 10, 2005 7:43 pm

A big draw to the arena lies in the fact that you gain experience for killing your fellow players.

So that is pretty much awesome. It's too bad you can't get skills from PVP.

Post by **Jonathan** » Thu May 19, 2005 11:59 pm

http://www.lotd.org/modules.php?name=Ne ... =0&thold=0

Can't be competitive in PvP without unlocking lots of skills and finding superior runes, but finishing the game does not involve acquiring all the skills or finding any runes at all. Valid complaints.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue May 24, 2005 6:33 pm

so did you finally quit?

I'm still playing WoW on your crappy server!

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Wed May 25, 2005 2:14 am

I played until like last week. Started taking a class.

So yeah I have probably quit.

Post by **Jonathan** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 9:27 pm

http://www.firingsquad.com/features/gui ... efault.asp

FS sez: GW bor-ring.

I couldn't comment on his level design/quest design rants, but I do think he's right on the money when it comes to strategy. The problem with GW strategy is that strategy is entirely an offline planning and collaboration thing. Once you're in a mission, you're locked into a strategy and you just have to execute. If your opponent throws something in your face, you probably can't adapt in the middle of the match. If you didn't plan a counter, you lose.